1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method and to a storage medium.
2. Related Background Art
It has been proposed recently to provide a color copy machine with an image recognition processing function or the like in order to prevent bills, securities and the like from being forged. If image data to be copied is judged that it is a forgery inhibited image, then a normal copy is not output, such as (1) the image data is printed out after it is painted out with some color, (2) the image data is printed out after some symbol or figure is superposed upon the image data, (3) the image data is printed out after its color or size is changed, (4) the image data is not printed out at all, or other countermeasures.
It is a principal rule for a copy machine to copy a matter placed on an original support excepting a copy inhibited matter such as bills. If an image like a bill (not a bill image but an image legally permitted to copy) is input, it is necessary to recognize that the input image is not a bill and to perform a copy operation. Strictly precise recognition is therefore required for a judgement that an image is not a forgery inhibited image.
The quality of an image obtained with a color scanner and a color printer which are more inexpensive than a color copy machine, has improved considerably nowadays. By connecting these scanner and printer to a personal computer, a combination of apparatus constituting a color copy machine can be realized and a forgery action can be performed. It is desired to provide an image processing system using an inexpensive color scanner and color printer with an image recognition processing function or the like in order to prevent bills, securities and the like from being forged.
Methods of judging whether an original is a copy inhibited matter have been proposed to date. With one method, a color spectrum distribution of pixel values (R, G and B pixel values of three-color signals) of image data obtained by scanning is compared with data stored in advance in a ROM. This comparison is made by calculating a total sum of absolute values of differences or by calculating correlation values between distributions. With another method, a partial or whole image pattern of an original is compared with pattern data stored in advance in a ROM or the like to calculate an evaluation value.
Information representative of a copy inhibited matter can be added to an original (printed matter) by using recent techniques called xe2x80x9cdigital watermarkxe2x80x9d. Namely, a printed matter is produced from image data (electronic image data) with copy inhibited matter information. The image data is generated by embedding second digital data (sub-data) representative of copy inhibited matter information in original first digital image data (main data). The copy inhibited matter information can be derived from the image data with copy inhibited matter information before an original is printed, by using digital watermark techniques. The copy inhibited matter information can also be derived (extracted) from the image data of a printed matter (original) read with an original reader such as a color scanner, the printed matter being produced from the image data with copy inhibited matter information, if the reading and deriving conditions have integrity with the conditions under which the printed matter was produced. In this context, attention has been paid to the application of techniques xe2x80x9cdigital watermarkxe2x80x9d to prevent an illegal copy of an original (printed matter).
It is desired to realize forgery prevention of a copy inhibited matter at a low cost for inexpensive color scanners and color printers generally used in consumer markets, rather than for relatively expensive color copy machines. To this end, it is important to realize the recognition processing function for a copy inhibited matter by using mainly software, without using hardware with a number of electronic circuits.
If software is used for a judgement of a copy inhibited matter image at a high recognition precision, the total amount of calculations is large and it takes a very long time to recognize and judge a copy inhibited matter image.
If the calculation amount for the recognition/judgement is reduced, there is generally a tendency that it becomes difficult to judge a copy inhibited matter image at a high recognition precision. Therefore, it becomes very difficult to recognize a copy inhibited matter such as a bill from image data read under an intentionally altered read condition (angle, position and the like of an original placed on an original support). Conversely, even if an image like a bill (not a bill image but an image legally permitted to copy) is input, the image may be erroneously recognized as a copy inhibited matter image and a normal output is not performed. The function inherent to the image processing system is therefore lost.
During a digital image data producing process of scanners, facsimile apparatus, and digital copy machines, it is very difficult to read an original at a correct position on the original support without any inclination or transfer. A produced image has often a large blank area.
For recognizing a copy inhibited matter, the above-described methods are used. Namely, with one method, a color spectrum distribution of pixel values (R, G and B pixel values of three-color signals) of image data obtained by scanning is compared with data stored in advance in a ROM. This comparison is made by calculating a total sum of absolute values of differences or by calculating correlation values between distributions. With the other method, a partial or whole image pattern of an original is compared with pattern data stored in advance in a ROM or the like to calculate an evaluation value. Even with these methods, if the angle and position of an original placed on the original plane cannot be determined, there is a tendency that the total amount of calculations for the comparison with the pre-registered spectrum distribution data or image pattern data becomes large by leaps and bounds, as compared to the case that the angle and position can be determined.
It is desired to realize forgery prevention of a copy inhibited matter at a low cost for inexpensive color scanners and color printers, rather than for relatively expensive color copy machines. To this end, it is important to realize the recognition processing function for a copy inhibited matter by using mainly software, without using hardware with a number of electronic circuits.
If software is used for a judgement of a copy inhibited matter image at a high recognition precision, the total amount of calculations is large and it takes a very long time to recognize and judge a copy inhibited matter image. If the calculation amount for the recognition/judgement is reduced, there is generally a tendency that it becomes difficult to judge a copy inhibited matter image at a high recognition precision. Therefore, it becomes very difficult to recognize a copy inhibited matter such as a bill from image data read under an intentionally altered read condition (angle, position and the like of an original placed on an original support). Conversely, even if an image like a bill (not a bill image but an image legally permitted to copy) is input, the image may be erroneously recognized as a copy inhibited matter image and a normal output is not performed. The function inherent to the image processing system is therefore lost.
The invention has been made to solve the above-described problems. It is an object of the invention to provide an image processing apparatus constituting an image processing system, an image processing apparatus, and a storage medium storing a program for realizing such a method, the system being capable of providing a recognition/judgement process more precise than a conventional system, with a relatively small amount of calculations by using a personal computer system having an inexpensive image scanner and color printer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method and a storage medium, capable of distinguishing between images at a high precision even with a recognition/judgement process having a relatively small amount of calculations.
In order to achieve the above objects, an embodiment of the invention provides an image processing apparatus comprising: an unit for forming a predetermined characteristic area in an image; and an embedding unit for embedding a digital watermark in the characteristic area.
In order to achieve the above objects, an embodiment of the invention provides an image processing apparatus comprising: an input unit for inputting an image from an input image in a band area having a predetermined size as image data; an area recognizing unit for recognizing a predetermined characteristic area from the image data of the band area; a digital watermark data deriving (extracting) unit for deriving digital watermark data from the image data in the characteristic area recognized by the area recognizing unit; and a processing unit for processing the image data corresponding to the image, in accordance with a deriving result of the digital watermark data.
In order to achieve the above objects, an embodiment of the invention provides an image processing apparatus comprising: an image data input unit for printing out image data; a unit for acquiring a band area having a predetermined size from an image input from the image data input unit; a characteristic area recognizing unit for recognizing a predetermined characteristic area in the band area; a digital watermark data deriving unit for deriving digital watermark data from the recognized characteristic area; and a unit for judging from a deriving result by the digital watermark data deriving unit whether a printout of the image data is continued or intercepted.
In order to achieve the above objects, an embodiment of the invention provides an image processing apparatus for recognizing a copy inhibited image by executing a program, the apparatus comprising: an input unit for inputting image data of an image; a unit for determining a characteristic detection object area from the image data input by the input unit; a detecting unit for detecting a characteristic for recognizing the copy inhibited image from the image data of the image in the characteristic detection object area determined by the determining unit; and an output unit for outputting a signal representative of a detection result by the detecting unit.